[intro]Using this guide, you can learn all about the data on the Backlinks page of the EKM SEO platform. [/intro]
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Locating the Page
1. From the dashboard, click Backlinks and then select Your Backlinks from the drop-down menu: 
2. This page of the EKM SEO platform provides a breakdown of your backlink data. On the top left-hand side, you can click the drop-down button to amend the view from Simple Mode to Advanced Mode:
What are Backlinks?
Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your domain. When someone clicks one of these links, they’re taken straight to your EKM online shop. Backlinks are important because search engines like Google see them as a sign of trust. If reputable, relevant websites link to you, it tells Google that your content is useful and worth showing in search results.
They can help by:
- Improving your search rankings
- Building trust and credibility for your website
- Bringing visitors directly to your site from other websites
Not all backlinks are equal, though. A small number of high-quality links from trusted websites is far more valuable than a large number of low-quality or spammy links.
In short, backlinks help boost your website’s visibility, credibility, and performance in search engines.
Why backlinking strategies are important
Using different strategies to build high-quality backlinks is important because every strategy has its advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is important to choose a few different strategies to implement rather than just one, so you can ensure a natural and diverse backlink profile is built over time for your EKM online shop.
Not every backlink strategy will suit everyone, but it’s equally important to test as many as possible to see which one works best for your specific needs. Strategies give you a blueprint as to how best to plan actions to achieve a specific outcome, in this case, getting high-quality, high authority, trustworthy backlinks.
Across the top of the page, you’ll see four tabs:
- Live – The page will always load on this view by default.
- Disavowed – On this page, you’ll see a list of any backlinks that you’ve disavowed so far.
- Lost – These are links that used to point to your domain but no longer do so.
- Authority – This page displays your domain authority and link metrics over time.
Using the Backlinks page, you can view and assess the quality of backlinks pointing at your EKM online shop. If there are any bad backlinks, you can disavow these to ensure only the most useful and trusted websites point at your domain.
What are bad backlinks?
Bad backlinks are links from low-quality, irrelevant, or spammy websites that point to your EKM online shop. While not all backlinks are harmful, having many poor-quality links can negatively affect your SEO performance and search engine rankings.
Google uses backlinks as a signal of trust and relevance. In the past, some websites attempted to manipulate rankings by building large volumes of low-quality links. In response, Google introduced penalties for sites associated with these practices. Although Google understands that website owners are not always responsible for bad backlinks, a significant number of them can still pose a risk if left unmanaged. For this reason, it’s important to regularly review your backlink profile and act where necessary.
How to identify bad backlinks
There are several indicators that a backlink may be harmful. In many cases, poor-quality links are easy to spot, particularly when the linking website appears untrustworthy or irrelevant. Common signs of bad backlinks include:
- Links from websites created solely for SEO purposes, often with poor design, spelling or grammar.
- Links placed in forum comments or blog comment sections that you did not create.
- Anchor text that is unrelated to your business or uses inappropriate language.
- Links from websites in countries you do not operate in.
- Links from adult, gambling, or other unsuitable websites.
While SEO tools can help, manual review remains important when assessing backlink quality.
Do bad backlinks need to be removed?
Not all bad backlinks require immediate action. Google recognises that some low-quality links occur naturally and are outside the website owner’s control. However, if a website has many spammy backlinks, it is safer to address them rather than risk potential ranking issues.
As a general best practice, it is recommended to identify and disavow harmful backlinks, particularly if they appear unnatural or excessive.
[remember]You can remove bad backlinks from your EKM online shop by following the steps in this guide: XXXXXX [/remember]
Why is Managing Link Quality Important?
Maintaining a strong backlink profile protects your SEO performance. Low-quality or spammy links can harm your credibility and search rankings. Regularly monitor your backlink profile using tools like Google Search Console and disavow links that could harm your EKM online shop. Another important consideration in managing link quality is understanding the difference between nofollow and dofollow links. Nofollow links do not pass authority from one site to another, while dofollow links contribute to improving a site's search engine ranking. Balancing both types of links in your backlink profile can help diversify and strengthen your link equity.
Scrolling further down the page, next to the domain name and the backlink URL, you’ll see columns for Domain and Page Authority:
What is Domain Authority?
The domain authority scores you see next to your backlinks on the platform is a metric that predicts how well a website will rank in search engine results.
Those with higher scores on the platform (in green) indicate a greater ability to rank. The domain authority scale on the platform ranges from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. A backlink from a high-authority domain is generally considered valuable because it can improve the ranking and visibility of the linked website in search engines.
'Bad' websites, in most cases, have a low SEO score (in yellow or red), though not all websites with a low score are necessarily bad.
[remember] Please note that if you add a backlink manually to the platform, this will not automatically show the domain authority. You will need to wait for Majestic (which EKM SEO uses to gather backlink data) to pick up the backlink, which will then update the domain authority score in the platform. [/remember]
Why is Domain Authority Important?
Domain Authority can be a useful metric to provide insight into a website's potential performance in search rankings. However, it’s a tool for benchmarking and not a factor that search engines use for ranking.
- Benchmarking - When you have the domain authority scores of multiple domains, you can use them as a valuable benchmarking tool to compare the relative strength of different websites within the same niche or industry. This is useful when looking at your competitors and seeing how hard it will be to compete against them in search engine results, enabling you to set realistic goals for improving online visibility and competitiveness.
- Backlink Prospecting - Domain authority can also be helpful when identifying potential backlink opportunities. Websites with higher domain authority scores typically indicate stronger authority and credibility in their respective fields. This means that when evaluating backlink prospects, prioritising websites with higher domain authority can be advantageous as these links can positively influence a site's own authority and search engine rankings.
[tips]Remember, you can download all your backlinks onto a spreadsheet by clicking the Export button on the top right-hand side:
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How is Domain Authority Calculated?
Domain Authority was originally calculated using a proprietary algorithm developed by Moz on a 1-100 logarithmic scale. Since then, other SEO platforms (like EKM SEO) have their own domain authority ranking system. While the exact specifics of the Moz algorithm are not disclosed to the public, various factors are considered to determine a website's domain authority, which likely includes the number of linking domains, the quality of those links, traffic flowing to those domains, and other factors such as proprietary trust scores.
EKM SEO uses a 1-10 scale to measure domain authority, with 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest. Brand new websites with no prior history start with a domain authority of 1 out of 10. By securing high-quality and authoritative backlinks, this score can start to increase over time. Domain authority scores between four and five are generally considered average. Scores between five and six are good, and a domain authority above six is considered excellent. Remember, the score is calculated using a logarithmic scale, which means it’s much harder to go from five to six than from two to three, for example.
Ultimately, remember it’s not the absolute score that matters - it’s the context and how your domain authority relates to your competitors that matters.
How To Increase Domain Authority
There’s no quick or easy way to boost your domain authority. It takes consistent effort, patience, and finding the right link opportunities. It’s never about just the number of links; it’s the quality of the links that are secured that matters. Below are some best practices to increase your domain authority:
- Quality over quantity - Domain authority is not something you build quickly, but rather through making sure that the links you get are of high quality, relevance, and have credibility in your industry. Of course, the more quality links you receive, the better, but always focus on quality first.
- Analyse backlinks - Before attempting to secure a backlink from a website, make sure to do a proper analysis of the domain to make sure it’s a trustworthy and authoritative source to link from. Look at the domain authority, the industry it’s in, the quality of the content, social media activity, traffic and other indicators that give confidence in the quality of the website. Analysing your existing backlink profile is also important to flag up any suspicious or low-quality backlinks that would be better removed than associated with them. If removal is not possible, then disavowing that link or domain can be an option as a last resort.
- Create quality content - Creating high-quality content that adds value to the target audience and is worth linking to automatically creates a strong foundation to encourage visitors to link to that page or website. This generates additional backlinks from real sources that can build domain authority naturally over time. To get an idea of what the quality standards for content are, have a look at your competitor’s content. How in-depth do they go? What points within that topic do they cover?
- Compare your domain to your competitors - Domain Authority should be used to measure your authority or ranking strength in relation to your competitors. Just because you have a DA of two doesn’t mean it’s bad - your competitors could have domain authority scores of less than two, which means your domain authority is quite good in comparison. Always view domain authority in context!
- See where competitors get their backlinks - Spotting websites that overlap with backlinks to multiple competitors is a clue that this could be an easier opportunity to link from, as it has linked to multiple websites in the same industry or niche. You can utilise the ‘Competitor Opportunities’ section of the platform to identify these websites.
Adding Backlinks Manually
1. You can add your own backlinks by clicking the blue button in the top right-hand corner:
2. You then need to paste the backlink into the field provided and click the plus symbol:
When you manually add a backlink, it won’t get included in your backlink data until the EKM SEO platform has recognised it as a live backlink. Once the backlink has been picked up, it will contribute to your domain’s backlink score. The backlink score is a combined score based on two metrics provided by Majestic. These two metrics are trust flow and citation flow, which determine the total value of your website's backlinks. The higher the number, the better and more authoritative your website is. So, adding more backlinks can help increase this score over time.
How long does it take for a new backlink to be found?
Are you creating a new backlink to help increase your website's SEO, but aren’t sure when the newly created backlink will be visible to Google? You aren’t alone! It's important to understand that when a new backlink is created, it doesn't immediately register with Google, and getting the link indexed by Google can take some time.
Once you have created a new backlink, it often takes time for Google to pick it up. It is difficult to say how long it takes exactly. However, in most cases, the new backlink is picked up within 5-10 weeks. It is important to note that the platform will not be able to pick up the backlink until Google has.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Good Domain Authority Score?
Domain Authority is best used in context and not as an absolute measurement of authority. It’s most useful when comparing your own website to your competitors in the same niche or industry, so you can see how much domain authority you have in relation to them.
Having less domain authority than your competitors simply means that it may be harder to rank for keywords that your competitors are ranking for. However, having a higher domain authority than your competitors indicates that it could be a lot easier to gain visibility over your competitors in the search engine results pages.
Brand new websites with domains that have no previous history start out with a domain authority of one out of ten. By securing high-quality and authoritative backlinks, this score can start to increase over time.
Domain authority scores between four and five are generally considered average. Scores between five and six are good, and a domain authority above six is considered excellent. Remember, the score is calculated using a logarithmic scale, which means it’s much harder to go from five to six than from two to three, for example.
Ultimately, remember it’s not the absolute score that matters - it’s the context and how your domain authority relates to your competitors that matters.
Why does domain authority change?
Domain Authority can fluctuate over time simply because of the dynamic nature of the web. Links are constantly being added, removed, and changed, so as the backlink profile of a domain changes, so does the domain authority. Sometimes, backlinks are removed, which could result in a drop in domain authority. Other times, new backlinks are added, and this could increase the domain authority of the site. Every backlink influences the domain authority score, however small, so the cumulative impact of all the backlinks combined can affect and change the score over time.
Why has my domain authority dropped?
If you've noticed a drop in your domain authority, several factors could be contributing to this decline:
• Algorithm Updates: Search engines like Google regularly update their algorithms, which can result in changes to how they evaluate websites and assign authority. If a major algorithm update occurred, it could impact your DA.
• Loss of Quality Backlinks: If websites that were linking to your domain lose credibility or authority, or if those links are removed or become inactive, it can negatively affect your domain authority.
• High Volume of Low-Quality Backlinks: Having many low-quality or spammy backlinks can hurt your domain authority. Search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated in identifying and penalising such links.
• Content Quality and Relevance: If the content on your website has become less relevant or of lower quality, it may not attract as many quality backlinks, and this can affect your domain authority.
• Technical SEO Issues: Issues with your website's technical SEO, such as slow page load times, broken links, or poor mobile optimisation, can lead to a drop in domain authority.
How do I address a domain authority drop?
• Backlink Healthcheck – Click here for the Backlink Healthcheck. From here, you’ll be able to evaluate the quality of your existing backlinks and disavow any low-quality or spammy links.
• Improve Content Quality - Create high-quality, relevant, and engaging content that can attract natural backlinks.
• Monitor Algorithm Updates - Stay informed about search engine algorithm updates and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.
• Build High-Quality Backlinks - Focus on acquiring quality backlinks from reputable sources. You can find backlink opportunities by heading to ‘Backlinks’ and then clicking ‘Backlink Opportunities’.
How often should I check my domain authority?
Domain authority is a metric that takes time to change, so it’s advisable to check at most once a month. This ensures that any backlinks that have been created during a 30-day period have time to be picked up and influence the domain authority of your site.
Why are my ‘lost’ links still live?
Sometimes the EKM SEO platform will tell you that one of your backlinks is ‘lost’. This means that a backlink you once had no longer exists.
This can happen for many reasons, including the webmaster may have removed your backlink, the page your backlink was on may now return a 404 response, and so on. EKM SEO uses a provider called Majestic for backlink data, which can sometimes return false positives. There’s no way to ‘double check’ these for you, and because this feature can still be so valuable, it is still included for our users.
One common reason is that the page you had a backlink on now 301 redirects to a new URL. In this case, you'll still see the backlink, but our system will not, as the page 301 redirects. It's still very important that you check these lost links, as there may be a very valuable link you need to be aware of and can add this new link manually back onto the platform, following the instructions earlier in this guide.
Where does EKM SEO's backlink data come from?
For the backlink data you'll see within EKM SEO, this is from Majestic.com - the most comprehensive SEO backlink software provider on the market, so you can be 100% confident of the accuracy of the data that the EKM SEO platform provides.
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[contact]If you need our help with your EKM online shop, contact your Ecommerce Expert, Account Manager, or the Customer Support Team, who can point you in the right direction. Our opening hours are 9 am - 5.30 pm Monday to Friday, for telephone calls, live chats, and emails. Outside of these hours, you can leave a message for us in the live chat window or email support@ekm.com, and we will answer as soon as possible. If you'd like to suggest a feature or an upgrade on any of the EKM platforms, please let us know on the EKM Suggestions Board. [/contact]